WATCH: Oilers give Keith hero's welcome back to the United Center originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
A hero is coming home.
On Thursday night, Chicago Blackhawks legend Duncan Keith will play another hockey game at the United Center. The same arena he won three Stanley Cups in.
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Before the game, the Oilers hosted a practice at the United Center and gave Keith a hero's welcome.
When Keith turned the corner into the hallway that leads to the locker rooms he was greeted by a stick tunnel. As he turned into the locker room his teammates had used masking tape to put his number and initials on the wall.
And lastly, a red carpet awaited to guide him to his locker.
"Yeah, just sort of welcome back, I guess" Oilers star Connor McDavid said of the stick tunnel. "You know, obviously a special day for him. You know, I'm sure tomorrow is going to be a lot for him. Coming back and the place has got so many memories.
"And you know, obviously, as his team we want to try to make it special for him as well. And we got to get a big win for him."
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Keith wasn't expecting that welcome from his Edmonton teammates.
"That was a surprise," Keith told reporters. "I wasn't really expecting anything like that. I knew it was a little bit odd that the camera guy was following me walking into the room.
"I turned the corner and they had the halo sticks there. It was nice, the teammates here have been great, lucky to be part of another great organization with the Oilers. And just getting to know the teammates over the past five six months here since the start of the year it's a great group of guys and I think as a team right now, we're just kind of coming into our own right now, playing a lot better as a team. And you know, we just keep trying to build."
Surely it will be surreal for Keith to be in the visitor's locker room, but he likely has another raucous fan base waiting to extend the welcome.
"I don't know. That's a good question," Keith said when asked about the emotions he expects when he is on the ice in front of fans again. "Just now, even today, it's exciting to be back, it's the first time being back.
"It feels like yesterday, really that I was just in here eating pre-game meals and things like that. So, uh, yeah, I spent a lot of time here. It's nice to be back, but definitely a unique feeling."
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